Improvement in automatic gas-cocks



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Automatic Gas Cqck.

No. 56,240. Patented July 10, 1866.

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0. MAC RAE.

Automatic Gas Cock.

Patented July 10, 1866.

66-8-66 aim UNIT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES MAO RAE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN AUTOMATIC GAS-COCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent *No. 56.240, dated July 10, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, 0. MAG RAE, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Method of Turning on or off Gas; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use the invention, I will proceed to describe it. v

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my apparatus inclosed in a case. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same with the case removed, and Fig. 3 is a perspective View of a portion of the same.

My invention consists in connecting with the cock of gas-burners a mechanism that will open said cock to permit the flow of gas, and also close the same to stop the flow, automatically, or without the aid of an attendant.

It also further consists in combining therewith certain means whereby the gas may be turned on or shut off at any designated times or periods, my improvements being more especially intended for street lamps or burners.

It is well known that manyattempts have heretofore been made to provide means for turning on and off the gas to street-lamps by mechanism in connection with an apparatus of some kind for automatically lighting the same; but as yet none has been made to work satisfactorily. In most of these contrivances plungers or weights have been used, with or without cups containing mercury or other fluids, for shutting off the flow of the gas and for various reasons these have proved defective. Nothing is found to work as perfectly as the ordinary gas cock, which, being made slightly conical and ground into its seat, fits accurately, works easy, and can be tightened up to compensate for any wear that may occur in use.

In my invention I propose to use this ordinary cock, and operate it by means of mechanism that will open or close it at any definite period that may be desired.

In Fig. 1, A represents the case, which may be made of any desired form and size. Within this case I place an ordinary clock-work, the kind known as marine movement being preferred In Fig. 2, D represents the shaft, to which is attached the spring that operates the striking mechanism, E being the coiled spring that operates it, and F a gear-wheel transmitting motion to the other parts usually connectet therewith.

T represents the gas tube or pipe, having a burner, B, secured to its upper end, as shown in Fig. l, in the usual manner. This tube T passes through the case A in such a manner as to bring the cock 0 oppositethe end of shaft D, as shown in Fig. 3, the end of said shaft being connected to cock 0 in such a manner that when the shaft is turn ed by the spring E it will turn the cock also.

In order to regulate the movements of the shaft D so as to stop it when the cock has been turned one-quarter of arevolution, orfar enough to entirely open it for the passage of the gas, a stop-wheel, G, is mounted on the shaft D, this wheel having four notches, e, cut in its periphery to receive a pawl,f, which, by engaging in the notch c, as shown, stops the movement of the wheel, and consequently of the shaft D and cock 0, until again released by raising the pawl out of the notch The pawl f, and the parts connected with it for stopping and starting the shaft 1), with the exceptions hereinafter described, are those used in the ordinary clock.

In order to provide means for setting the apparatus so that the gas may be turned on at any required hour, remain on fora specified time, and then be shut off ataparticular time, I connect the locking devices in the upper portion of the striking apparatus by a rod, a, with a lever, m, which is pivoted at 1".

Upon the central shaft, to, to which the hands are usually attached, I secure two short hands, I) and 0, these being of such a length that, as they revolve, their ends will strike the end of lever m, and, by raising it, unlock the locking devices and raise the pawl f out of the notch e of stop-wheel F, thereby permitting the shaft D to make one-quarter of a revolution and turn the cock 0, and open or close it, as the case may be.

It is obvious that the devices for locking,

and unlocking the stopwheel F may be arranged in a great variety of ways and be made to accomplish the desired result, and therefore I do not intend to limit myself to the precise plan here shown.

These hands I) and c are secured to the shaft to in such a manner that, while adhering to the shaft with sufficient force to trip the lever m, still they can be turned forward or backward on said shaft at pleasure and independent of each other, by which means they can be set so as to cause either of them to strike the lever m at any desired hour, and also to permit any number of hours less than twenty-four to intervene between the tripping of lever m by one and the other of said hands b and c.

In Fig. 1 a dial is shown having two circles of twenty-four equal parts properly numbered. An hour-hand, d, is also mounted on the spindle or shaft to, to indicate the hour of the day, a minute-hand not being considered necessary. It will be obvious that all three of the hands, being secured to the same shaft, will revolve at a uniform rate of speed.

Supposing, now, that it be desired to setthe apparatus so that the gas will be turned on at 5 oclock in the evening and be turned off at the end of fourteen hours, or 7 oclock in the morning, it being understood that the zeropoint on the inner circle is the point at which the hand I) or 0 must be at the instant the cock is moved. In that case the hands wouldbe set as shown in Fig. 1. When so set it will be seen that the hand I) will pass the point of lever m at the instant that b arrives opposite the zero-point, the cock beginning to open the instant the end of lever m is released from contact with hand b, at which time the hour-hand will have reached V on the outer circle, and, of course, indicating 5 oclock. The gas will remain on until the hand 0 shall pass around and trip the lever m again and close the cock, thereby shutting off the gas, the hour-hand in the meantime having passed around to VII 011 the opposite side of 'thedial, thereby indicating 7 'oclock of the morning.

From this illustration it will readily be seen that the hands I) and 0 may be so set as to turn the gas on at any desired hour or time, let it remain on any number of hours, and then shut it off at any specified time, the only requisite being to wind the clock and keep it going.

In order to apply my invention it will be necessary to attach one to each lamp; after which nothing is required but to set it and keep the clock running. It will, of course, be understood that an automatic lighting device is to be used to ignite the gas; but as that forms no part of this invention, it need not be herein described. It is also obvious that the mechanism for locking and unlocking the op-.

crating parts may be varied to any desired extent, the ordinary clock-work being used in this case simply because it can be obtained already prepared, except as previously stated, at a trifling cost,*and answers the desired purpose well.

The apparatus may be located at any desired point on or in the lamp-post; and, if desired,the latter maybe cast with abox, recess, or case formed in it to receive the mechanism. If found desirable, in order to exclude dust and moisture, the case may be provided with a door of rubber or gutta-percha, arranged to close perfectly tight, it only being necessary to open it for the purposes of setting the hands and winding it up.

The spring that operates the cock should be made stronger than for the ordinary clock, and both that and the time parts may be arranged to run for a month or more without re- Winding. All these points are more questions of detail for the mechanic, not involving in any respect the principle of my invention, which consists in the application of mechanism directly to the ordinary gas-cock for the purpose of turnii'lg on or shutting off the gas.

Having thus fully described myinvention, what I claim is- 1. Operating an ordinary gas-cock by means of a spring or its equivalent applied directly to the cock, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with a gas-cock operated as above described, the stopwheel G and pawl f, so arranged as to be released by the movements of-the'clock-work, substantially as herein described.

3. In combination with a gas-cock operated as described, the hands I) and 0, arranged to operate as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The stationary dial provided with the two graduated circles, in combination with the hands I), 0, and d, when said parts are arranged to operate in connection with a gas-cock operated as herein described.

CHARLES MAO RAE.

Witnesses:

W. O. DODGE, E. P. HOWLAND. 

